WAIT A SEC, I'VE ONLY GOT THREE HANDS

Third arms are a blessing and a curse

Dateline: 1 September 2023

Since scientists and doctors collaborated almost a decade ago to fit amputees with robotic arms controlled by their brains, bionic limbs have come a long way. Now it's possible to strap on a wearable robotic appendage, even if both your arms are fully functional.

Connected wirelessly to your brain by a 'thinking cap', you can move your third arm and manipulate your extra limb, just by thought alone. With practice, you become quite dexterous.

What's really interesting is that you can operate all three hands independently, at the same time! It's a bit like typing on a phone while walking; simple multitasking, as long as you look where you're going.

This skill is opening up new avenues for sport and recreation; three-handed jugglers are so adept, it's astonishing. A special category of contest has been invented for three-armed martial arts (TAMMA), and three-handed racquet ball needs to be seen to be appreciated.

It's also great to have a third hand to hold your mic if you're a stand-up comic, or a speaker who likes to use his hands a lot. Domestic chores are so much easier too; think unpacking groceries or cooking, for example.

And that's where the curse comes in. Even if your job doesn't involve much manual labour, your boss will expect you to work much faster than before. Augmented people must be more productive. It's no good complaining: "I've only got three hands!"

One of the areas where robots are making big strides is in warehousing and logistics. Companies like Amazon and Ocado are reaping big rewards from advanced automation, as this article from the Guardian shows. But what is also interesting is the benefit of robotic systems that directly help human workers to be more efficient - robotic coworkers or cobots. Could this be the magic formula which avoids 'competition for jobs' between people and robots, but rather assigns tasks to the machines that will improve people's work and careers? With the right cobots lending a hand, perhaps we won't need bionic third arms, as suggested in this MindBullet. Or is that just a wearable robot?A FuturesForum post (titled: "Robots and cobots") refers to this MindBullet. The full FuturesForum post can be read here: http://www.futureworld.org/PublicZone/FuturesForum/BlogDetails.aspx?PostID=9a04c070-9dc7-498f-9bba-10580ec7e87a